CORRECTION and tonight’s earnings reports

CORRECTION: I’m buying the September VIX calls with $15 strikes for $1.30 or so. The December $14 VIX calls are just about as good, but more expensive for each one than the Sept $15s, obviously.

Meanwhile, Apple is rocking, adding to its gains after Carl Icahn, whom I’ve chatted up a couple times at conferences, has a billion and half dollars worth of shares. He wants Apple’s board to up the recently initiated stock buyback that Tim Cook’s CEO-ship created. I’d rather Apple send us a $130 billion dividend, which would be equivalent to more than $100 per share for each of us, which would be a 25% dividend payment. Either way though, Apple’s gotta figure out someway to return some of the huge cash its got and is generating each quarter to us shareholders. Apple might well be headed higher still for the near-term. Steady as she goes there for me.

Tonight’s earnings reports on my radar include:

  • A – I expect a beat and a flattish to up move tomorrow.
  • CSCO – I expect a beat and raise and an up move tomorrow.
  • NTAP – I expect a miss and a down move tomorrow.
  • NTES – I expect an inline and an up move tomorrow.

I’m not putting a trade on any of those, but I know you guys like the idea flow, so there ya’ go.